Lost Document

[TudorRose]

Hi,

Bit of a long shot but I wondered if anyone could please help with my sons prediciment.

He writing a report for college on Open Office, his computer crashed with said 30 page report. It said it would recover his document, but didn't.

All he is left with, is a ten page report. Is there any way to recover this document?

My knowledge of computers, is mainly typing, is the report lost forever, said son is in despair. Report needs to be in the day after tomorrow.

Any help appreciated please.

Thank you for looking :(

[RIR]

Hallo.

Can you do a search as follows "*.tmp" (without the quotes), and specify "Documents and Settings" as the location to be searched?


Cheers

Ian.

[TudorRose]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for trying to help. No joy. I think they are on the computer, or at least on the data stick, there are two files which are marked in the following way.

F:\Level Course Option\lock.Report.doc#

F:\Level Course Option\lock.Report.odt#

These two files do not open, obviously there is lock in the file names, is there a way to open these files?

Any help appreciated. Again thanks for looking. :)

[Niall Fernie]

You could try opening the .odt file in notepad as its just a text document.

You will find however that all the formatting codes are also there in XML format but it would probably be quicker to strip all that out than to start again.

I'm pretty sure that openoffice has an autosave function as well that you could set to every five minutes to help with any future crashes.

[TudorRose]

Hi Niall,

Thank you for trying to help. The files that had backed up, had backed up, after his work was lost.

Totally at a loss on what to do next. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thank you once again for your help. :)

[TudorRose]

Hi Ian,

Thanks for trying to help. No joy. I think they are on the computer, or at least on the data stick, there are two files which are marked in the following way.

F:\Level Course Option\lock.Report.doc#

F:\Level Course Option\lock.Report.odt#

These two files do not open, obviously there is lock in the file names, is there a way to open these files?

Any help appreciated. Again thanks for looking. :)

Yeah these file names proved to be just shortcuts, that hadn't been automatically wiped when the computer with Open office crashed. Really weird that my son has only a very early save of his document. Seems a bit like the twilight zone! It would be funny, if it wasn't such an important document.

[plasticjock]

First thing is try not to do any work on the computer as it will write to the first free spaces it finds on the hard disk and may overwrite your lost files.

Having said that, go to http://www.piriform.com/recuva and download and install this free, comprehensive file-recovery program. It could recover the document file.
Doesn't matter whether the file was created in OpenOffice or Microsoft Word.

Good luck

[TudorRose]

Hi Plasticjock,

We have installed the programme you suggested, it recovered the file, status in poor condition (not unrecoverable) when my son tries to open it. A pop up from Open office says general input/output error. Although the file size is about 400 odd kilobites.

I don't suppose you have any more ideas?

Thank you already for the help you have given, don't worry if this is it.

All the best,

TudorRose :)

[plasticjock]

Hi Plasticjock,

We have installed the programme you suggested, it recovered the file, status in poor condition (not unrecoverable) when my son tries to open it. A pop up from Open office says general input/output error. Although the file size is about 400 odd kilobites.

I don't suppose you have any more ideas?

Thank you already for the help you have given, don't worry if this is it.

All the best,

TudorRose :)


Depending on how corrupt the file is, this freeware program http://www.repairmyword.com/ will attempt to get as much detail as it can from it.

Make a backup of your original recovered file first and use the backup for attempted recovery.

[RecQuery]

*Sigh* Okay there's been some bad advice here, but it's too late now...

Anyway ODT files are basically archives, same idea as ZIP files. Try opening the file with your archive programme and see what comes up in the file list. If it's a DOC file, try opening it in notepad (right-click edit)

Failing that if you want to upload the file to Mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com/) (It's pretty easy and you don't need to created an account) I'm sure someone can take a look for you. Unless the file was explicitly saved (not autosave) then it's unlikely that file has the changes, but it's worth a try.

You might also want to check the following locations for any files of interest:

XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org\3\user\
Vista - C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice.org\3\user

Failing that try searching for *.xcu files (same idea as the *.tmp files above). When using search you'll need to set it to search hidden files. Check here for XP (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302347).

Quick question was your son working on the file from the USB stick or the hard drive; did he open the file from the USB stick or the Desktop/My Documents?

If none of this works or you need a more step by step guide, let us know.

Edit: Those locations are hidden by default and the \3\ might be a 2 depending on your version, to unhide them check here
(http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial62.html)

[TudorRose]

Hi,

I hope you don't think me dense, you said about opening the file with his archive programme. I am unsure what that means?

He was working on his data stick when the computer crashed. He has been opening everything up to try to find the file.

Thanks

[RecQuery]

Ignore that bit for now. I think the best way to proceed is to check those locations (unless you have already)

C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\OpenOffice.org\3\user\

or

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice.org\3\user

for any files. Ideally a file called recovery.xcu. You'll need to show hidden files etc. If you reread the my previous post, there are a few links and guides in there.

Or you can search for *.xcu provided you have configured search to show hidden files.

[plasticjock]

The K.I.S.S. principle applies here.
Less *sighing* and more understanding of the original post request would be a help.
TudorRose confesses that they are not knowledgeable about computers AND, just as importantly, time-is-of-the-essence.

It really doesn't help, particularly when there is only a limited time available, to offer scatter-gun advice of a more computer-experienced nature that includes such helpful phrases as:
'failing that...(1)'
'...ignore that bit for now...'
'I think...'
'...or you can search for...'
'provided you have configured search...'
'...try opening file with your archive program...'
'if none of this works...'
'...you might also want to...'
'failing that...(2)'

Standing by to be flamed.......

[dx100uk]

thats helpful too.........


wont be able to do nowt if they dont invoke show hidden files as correctly advised by recq.

the unrecoverable 400k file will not be the one then.

if the file was originally open from the penstick for further changes and then the pc crashed, the file you want will be on the penstick

if it was typed 'blind/new' from the start new doc option as was never saved then it wont be anywhere other than where recq said

if you are desp, i offer to connect to the machine and sort it for you.

pm me if you wish.

dx

[TudorRose]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for all your help. Just an update in this final post. Yes, my son did check for hidden files, as was suggested, he was saving to his laptop hard drive when it crashed.The 'corrupted' file we found, was the right size and time for the 'lost' report.

Big thankyou to Ian (RIR), Niall Fernie, Plasticjock, RecQuery and dx100uk for trying to help my son. :)

Unfortunately, we didn't retrieve this document and the deadline for handing in his work has passed :(, therfore I have locked this thread.

Hopefully your collective knowledge displayed on this thread, may help someone else with the same problem.

All the best,

TudorRose :)